On Game 5, Indiana's offense was limited to just 79 points and a 93.9 offensive rating, something that contrasted with the 116.4 average offensive rate on the first four games of this series. The Pacers' offense had been quite "consistent" due to their domination on boards and free throws, but on Game 5, Miami did a good job in limiting this edge with Indiana having just a 50.3% rebound rate, 6 offensive rebounds and 15 FT attempts, while at the same time Indiana's backcourt was limited by foul trouble, something that added together resulted in just 79 points scored by the Pacers. I expected a bounce back from Indiana on Game 6 and this was why I took them on this game. They were more aggressive and therefore, they had an edge again on rebounds and free throws. That was evident since the start of Game 6, as everytime they were able to make a defensive stop, they pushed up the tempo searching for transition points and they succeeded in that! Indiana had just a 6.80%, 7.30% and 7.50% volume on transitions on Games 3, 4 and 5, while averaging 7.3 fast break points on this series, including a series low of just 4 fast break points on Game 5.
Indiana's backcourt has been struggling on half court, so why not asking them to push the pace as they have good athletes in George Hill and Lance Stephenson? The truth is that Indiana had almost 14% volume on transition plays, with a nice 7-10 FG and 1.36 PPP on transitions and a series high of 14 fast break points! If we add to that their domination on the glass once again, with a 57.9% rebound rate with 15 offensive boards, while Roy Hibbert had a great performance with 11-20 FG. These numbers were especially important, as David West was sick and his contribute on offense on the first half with 0-7 FG!
On the other hand, Miami's offense was just ugly to watch, with an offensive rating of just 94! This was their worst offensive game of the postseason and their second worst offensive rating in the season. The only time they did even worse was at Milwaukee, where they had a 93.6 offensive rating on their worst spot of the season, as they were playing their fourth game in five nights! However, it's curious to note that Miami was super sharp on their outside shooting with 10-18 (55.6%) 3pts, something that means that they shot just 16-54 (29.5%) on 2pts shots! Just like Indiana, Miami entered Game 6 with the mindset to score easy transition points especially via creating turnovers. Miami had a 20% volume on transitions with a great 9-14 FG, 1.37 PPP and 15 fast break points scored. The problem was that the Heat won Game 5 via great outside shots, especially with Lebron James. They tried a similar approach on Game 6, but they scored just 22 points at the paint, as Lebron didn't dominate down low, Chris Bosh was banged up, Dwyane Wade missing some easy layups and with Chris Anderson suspended, Joel Anthony couldn't do anything on offense even at the rim.
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